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Intransitive Action (Triple Extraction - Part 2)

Intransitive Verbs

The sentence may be a truncated three words or include a lengthy description, but the action never moves beyond the subject. To use the old riddle, there is no one else in the sentence to hear if the lone tree falling in the forest makes a sound.

Intransitive verbs may be followed by an adverb (something that adds to a verb):

The mayor spoke convincingly.

The president resigned hastily.

The dog barked sharply.

Don't let these examples fool you. An intransitive verb may also end with an adverb phrase

The volcano erupted with the destructive force of an atomic bomb.

Amelia Earhart's plane disappeared on a transcontinental flight

Triple Extraction:

Mayor can perform action Speech

President can perform action Resignation

Dog can perform action Bark

Adverbs can be used to give us specific types of these objects:

Convincing speech is a type of Speech

Hasty resignation is a type of Resignation

Sharp bark is a type of Bark

Now we can ask a question:

Q: What type of entities can perform the action “Bark”?

A: Dogs.

Q: What type of entities can perform the action “Resignation”?

A: Presidents.

Q: What are the types of “Resignation” a President is capable of performing?

A: Hasty Resignation.

How can we represent more complex adverb phrases?

Adverbs simply “add” to the verb. They tell us more about the verb. Given the complex adverb phrases above, we know that a plane and a transcontinental flight are related. We likewise know that a volcano and a destructive force are likewise related.

Plane is capable of transcontinental flight

Volcano is capable of destructive Force of an atomic bomb

We could leave the extraction at that, or add further semantic precision, without the loss of use, by incorporating reification into the extracted triples:

α ( Plane can perform action Disappearance )

β ( Plane is capable of Transcontinental Flight )

β in context of α

likewise,

α ( Volcano can perform action Eruption )

β ( Volcano is capable of Destructive Force of an Atomic Bomb )

β in context of α

Template:

α ( Subject can perform action Verb )

β (Subject is capable of ( Adverb | Adverb Phrase )* )

β in context of α

This gives us the ability to relate these facts by way of context. The concepts of plane, disappearance and transcontinental flight form a semantic chain.

This allows us to answer such questions as:

Q: When can a plane perform the action of disappearance?

A: During a transcontinental flight

The question could also be phrased “When is an entity most likely to perform an action”?

Q: When is a plane likely to disappear?

A: During a transcontinental flight (N%)

Based on the triples that are extracted from the unstructured text, and any statistical weights that might be applied, the system might come back with the same answer, or a different one. The likelihood (or probability) of this answer could also be returned. Fortunately, for the frequent fliers among us, the likelihood of this answer is low.